Relay apparatus and its application



1964 YUKlO HIRANO ETAL 3,119,341

RELAY APPARATUS AND ITS APPLICATION Filed Nov. 3, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.| FIG.4

J 1964 YUKIO HIRANO ETAL 3,119,341

RELAY APPARATUS AND ITS APPLICATION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 3. l96l FIG.8

Ill/47174727 FIG! I NVENTOR.

United States Patent 015 ice 3,119,341 Patented Jan. 23, T1964 3,119,341 RELAY APPARATUS AND ITS APIPLICATION Yuhio Hirano and Eye Kayama, Kiriu City, Japan, as-

signors to Mitsubadenhiseisakusho Co. Ltd, Kiriu, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Nov. 3, 1961, Ser. No. 150,014 4 Claims. (Cl. 103-53) This invention relates to a relay apparatus, or more concretely explaining, a relay apparatus which has some indirect controlling mechanism using the change of permeability, and its application, for example, an electromagnetic pump and an electromagnetic type flasher apparatus.

The first object of this invention is to eliminate electric harmful effects of treated fluid to contact points or other acting parts of the relay apparatus by arranging a plunger or other actor together with the treated fluid in a nonmagnetic tube which is situated isolatedly in the center and by relaying indirectly the motion of the above mentioned actor from the outside of the above non-magnetic center tube.

The second object of this invention is to eliminate cooscillation of the apparatus and to keep its reliable motion by using its characteristics that the reciprocating stroke of the actor is relatively long. This is a very important point for its applications, especially for an electromagnetic pump and an electromagnetic type flasher.

The third object of this invention is to keep smooth and reliable motion of the armature and to make a very compact apparatus by supporting the armature and the attached moving contact points with a special formed plate spring.

The fourth object of this invention is to make an economical plunger type electromagnetic pump which has a large capacity with small size by using the characteristics that the reciprocating stroke of the actor is very long and accordingly the sectional area of the actor may be small. This object is attained more perfectly by using a special cylinder type iron core for the actor and a special .type forced valve together with a one bodied composition of strainer, cleaner, feeding room, discharging room and others.

To attain these objects, this invention arranges slidably an actor such as a plunger which forms a part of the magnetic path in a nonmagnetic tube, and provides a correspondor such as an armature with some movable contact points which forms a part of the magnetic path and is acted by a spring in the counter direction to the pulling force of the electromagnetic coil, and makes changeable the permeability of the magnetic path to use its change as the controlling force.

In this embodiment, when the coil exciting actor such as a plunger is out of the magnetic path, its permeability is too small to make effective the pulling force of the electromagnetic coil, but when the actor moves to the direction to close the magnetic path, its permeability increases and pulls the correspondor such as an armature to close at last the contact points. On the other side, as the correspondor is pulled and moves near to the coil, the density of the magnetic flux increases which helps to increase the pulling force of the coil and to secure its starting action. Then, when the actor moves to the direction of opening the magnetic path and reaches the point where the permeability is sufiiciently small, the electromagnetic coil loses its pulling effect of the correspondor, and the correspondor is separated by the spring to open the contact points. In these relations, the actor must move enough near to the correspondor in starting as the correspondor is far away from the magnetic path. When started, as the correspondor is now very near to the magnetic path and the clearance of the magnetic path is now very small, the actor must move far enough to the direc tion of getting out from the magnetic path to decrease the permeability and let loose its pulling effect. As a result of these relations, the stroke of the actor becomes long enough to enable steady motion of this relay apparatus without any co-oscillation.

Moreover, the long stroke of the actor enables the additional result that when this relay apparatus is used for a pump using the actor as a piston which is controlled by another main electromagnetic coil and a spring, we can make a pump of large capacity with small size as its effective stroke is long.

Furthermore, this invention gives another benefit that the electric harmful effect of oil, gas or other material in the center tube or cylinder does not extend to the contact points and other necessary electric parts, as the actor together with the fluid slides in a non-magnetic tube or cylinder which is situated in the center and as the correspondor together with all other mechanism is situated in the outside part separated from the center tube or cylinder.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an electro circuit diagram of this invented relay apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the first example of this invention,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the second example of this invention,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the third example of this invention,

FIG. 5 is a plan elevation of an important part of the example in FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a sectional side elevation of the fourth example of this invention,

FIG. 7 is an electro circuit diagram of the example in FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is an explanatory sectional view showing one state of the magnetic path in FIG. 6,

FIG. 9 is an explanatory sectional view showing another state of the magnetic path in FIG. 6.

In FIG. 2, l is a solenoid type electromagnetic coil, 2 is a cylindrical iron plate surrounding the coil 1, 3 is a bottom iron plate, 4 is a cover iron plate, is a non magnetic tube which is arranged in the center of the coil 1 penetrating the iron plates It and d, and 6 is a plunger type moving iron core (actor) which is arranged slidably in the tube 5 being controlled by another solenoid type electromagnetic coil and a spring as shown in FIG. 6, and 7 is an armature (correspondor) which has a circumference fitting for the center conical port of the iron plate 4, and 8 is a spring which pushes the armature 7 away from the iron plate 4. The iron plates 2, 3, 4, the armature 7 and the plunger 6 make a magnetic path. 9 is a moving contact point which is supported to the armature '7 with a spring part iii. 11 is a fixed contact point which is fixed insulatedly to the iron plate 4-. In FIG. 1, one end of the coil 1 and the moving contact point 9 are connected to the plus side of a battery 13 through a switch 12. The other end of the coil 1 and the minus ide of the battery 13 are connected to the earth respectively. The fixed contact point it is connected to the apparatus which is to be controlled by this invented relay apparatus.

In the above mentioned embodiment, when we close the switch 12. and excite the coil 1, the armature 7 is pulled to the coil 1 against the spring action of 8 and 3 downward by some other force, the permeability of the magnetic path becomes smaller and at last the electromagnetic coil loses its pulling effect, and at last the armature 7 is pushed back by the spring 8 to the position as shown in FIG. 2 in which the contact points 9 and 11 are opened.

FIG. 3 shows another example of this invention of this invention and the same notation shows the same part in FIG. 2. In this case, the tube is made of a cylindrical type which closes its upper end and arranges its upper end at about the same level of the iron plate 4, the contained plunger 6 is made hollow, and a moving plate 16 with an iron plate 14 on its one side is pivoted to the iron plate 4;- and its one end is pulled by a spring 15 and its other end has a moving contact point 9. But this case has the same characteristics as that of FIG. 2 in the points that the correspondor 16 is moved corresponding to the motion of the plunger 6 and that the permeability change of the magnetic path contributes to the relay action.

FIG. 4 shows the other example of this invented relay apparatus and the same notation shows the same part in FIG. 2 In this case, the coil spring 8 is eliminated and a special formed plate spring 11 shown in FIG. 5 serves for it. In FIG. 5, the plate spring 10 is made of a special ring shape and the moving contact points 9, 9 are fixed at its opposed position. At the opposed points a, a which are at rectangular direction to 9, 9', i.e, before and behind position of FIG. 4, the armature 7 is supported. The outer parts of the supporting points a, a are extended circularly, bent at b, b and closed at c, c. At the points 0, c the plate spring 11 is supported to the cover plate 4. Thus, the armature 7 and the moving contact points 9, 9 are commonly supported to the fixed part 4 by the common plate spring 10 and, at the same time, the moving contact points 9, 9 are supported to the armature 7 with some spring action, so we can secure the same action as the example in FIG. 2 with only one spring. Moreover, as the space occupied by the spring is very small in this case, we can construct the whole apparatus very compactly. Furthermore, it is very simple and easy to install and to regulate the moving contact points 9, 9 so as to contact and separate at the same time.

In FIG. 6-FIG. 9, we can see the fourth example of this invention, a plunger type electromagnetic pump. In this example, we can recognize three characteristics. The first of them is to make a new electromagnetic pump which acts with long stroke by changing the permeability of the magnetic path formed with a special relay apparatus and a special tubular iron core. The second of them is to make a new electromagnetic pump which has a large delivery capacity using a special forced valve. The third of them is to make an economical and compact electromagnetic pump by forming one body of strainer, cleaner, feeding chamber and delivery chamber. In FIG. 6, 17 is a tube of non magnetic material, 18 is a tubular type iron core which is slidably inserted in the tube 17 and has some longitudinal, transverse, diagonal or screw type grooves at its outer surface. The iron core 13 is closed with a cap 19 at its upper end and a tension spring 20 being fixed to the cap at its upper end suspends the iron core 18 at the ball type part 22 so that the iron cores upper end is supported at about the same level as the armature 21. To make reciprocating motion of the tubular type iron core 1 8, an electromagnetic coil 23 for the plunger and another electromagnetic coil 24 for the relay are installed on both sides of the partition wall 25. The two electromagnetic coils 2'3 and 24 are situated insulatedly and concentrically to the tube 17. There are some contact points 28 at the insulating plate 27 on the partition wall 26. Opposing to the contact points 28, the contact points 30 are installed by way of a spring plate 29. The spring plate 29, as similar to the above mentioned 10 in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 is connected partly to the partition wall 26 and partly to the armature 2.1 which is concentrically and slidably supported by the tube 17 And 31 is a partition Wall, 32 is a case, 33 is a cap tor covenirrg the contact point mechanism and 34 is a dampering spring for the tubular iron core 18. The electric circuit of the above example is shown in FIG. 7. Starting from a plus terminal of an electric battery 35 and through a switch 36, a wire is connected to the earth through the electromagnetic coil 24 for the relay, and the other wire is connected to the contact point 28 through the electromagnetic coil 23 for the plunger. The contact point 28 is opened from the contact point '30 which is connected to the earth. And 37 is a resistance for the extinction of arc.

In this embodiment, when we close the switch 36 the electromagnetic coil 23 for the plunger is not excited as the plunger circuit is opened at the contact points 28, 30. But in the relay circuit, the electromagnetic coil 24 is excited andas the upper end of the tubular iron core 18 is about the same level as the armature 21 as shown in FIG. 8, the permeability of the relay circuit is large and as a result the armature 21 is pulled downward and at last the contact points 28 and 30 are closed. When the contact points 28 and 31) are closed, the electromagnetic coil '23 for the plunger is excited and so the tubular iron core 18 is pulled downward. When the tubular iron core 13 is moved downward, the magnetic circuit is partly opened, as shown in FIG. 9, the permeability together with the pulling force of the electromagnetic coil 24 decreases, so the armature 21 is pushed back by the spring action of the spring 29 and at the same time the contact points 28 and 31) are separated. As a result, the electromagnetic coil 23 loses the pulling force and the tubular iron core 18 is moved upward by the tension force of the spring 211. By this backward motion of the tubular iron core 18 the relay circuit is closed, and so the permeability together with the pulling force of the electromagnetic coil 24 increases and at last the latter overcomes the spring action of the spring 29 and pulls the armature 21. At the same time, the contact point 28 touches the other contact point 30', then the electromagnetic coil 28 is excited and the tubular iron core 18 is pulled downward. Thus, the tubular iron core 18 makes a reciprocating motion with rather longer stroke and it can form an electromagnetic pump which has no trouble of cooscillation and has a large capacity with small size. Moreover, the stroke of this pump can be changed by regulating the position of the tubular iron core 18 freely at the starting. As the tubular iron core 18 has many grooves of longitudinal, transverse, diagonal, screw type or of other adequate types on its outer surface, the excess oil passes through the grooves in motion and the tubular iron core 18 can make its reciprocating motion without any decrease of necessary magnetic flux nor any much resistance of motion.

At the bottom end of the reciprocating tubular iron core 18, a delivery valve 38 is connected universally through the ball type connector 22. The bottom end 38' of the delivery valve 38 is slidably inserted in a guide port 411 of a valve chamber 41} which is slidably installed in the tube 17 and has a oil feed port 39 and delivery port 39". 41 is a suction valve apparatus and 42 is a delivery port in the side wall of the tube 17.

In the hitherto used general valve mechanism, a mechanism as the above written 41 was solely employed. Namely, a valve 45 is pushed by a spring 46 on a valve seat 44 which has a feeding port 43, and this composite mechanism is inserted in a valve chamber 47 which is pressed on the circumference of the valve seat 44, and the valve 45 is opened by the fluid pressure. But in this invention, the valve 38 is connected to the reciprocating tubular iron core 18 and the valve chamber 40 is made slidable in the tube 17, so when the tubular iron core 18 is forced down, the valve 33 is pushed to the bottom surface of the valve chamber 411 and proceeds down the tube 17 with the valve chamber 40, which gives a large pressure to the oil and the oil flows into the chamber 40 through the feed port 39 and flows out through port 39. When the electromagnetic coil 23 loses its downwardly directed pulling force, iron core 18 is caused to move upwardly within tube 1'7 by the action of spring 20. By this action, valve 38 is pulled into engagement with the upper part of the valve chamber 40 to close port 89; valve 38 and chamber 40' then proceeding together upwardly within tube 17 to force oil through the delivery port 42. By this arrangement, the whole upper surface of the valve chamber 40 acts upon the oil.

At the outside of the pump mechanism 48, we can see a cleaner chamber 51 which is surrounded with a filtering film 49 and a separating cylinder 50, and at the outside of them there is a strainer chamber 53 which is surrounded with a strainer case 52. 55 is a feed port and 54 and 56 are feed and delivery conduits, respectively, 56 is a delivery port. In this case, as oil is delivered from a port 42 at the center tube 17, the oil path becomes shorter than that of the ordinary type which delivers oil upwards through the center tube. Moreover, the pump mechanism, the cleaner chamber and the strainer chamber are compactly conformed under the electromagnetic mechanism, which otters a new type of 13.11 electromagnetic pump.

This invention may be carried out in other ways or embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, the scope of this invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency in the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What we claim is:

1. An electromagnetic pump comprising: a non-magnetic tube; a first electromagnetic coil disposed concentrically about said tube; a second electromagnetic coil disposed concentrically about said tube and spaced at fixed distance upwardly from said first coil; a magnetic plunger slidably received Within said tube for reciprocating motion with respect to said coils; spring means adapted to normally bias said plunger upwardly toward said second coil; a spring plate member having a movable central portion disposed concentrically about said tube, a stationary outer portion spaced a fixed distance above said second coil, and flexible portions adapted to movably connect said central portion with said stationary portion; an annularly shaped armature disposed concentrically of said tube and supported by said central portion of said spring plate for reciprocating motion with respect to said second coil; means forming a pumping chamber below said plunger; and means for energizing said first coil including a plurality of stationary electrical contacts and a plurality of movable electrical contacts, said movable contacts being carried by said central portion of said spring plate, whereby said contacts are normally biased to an open position by said flexible portion of said spring plate and are closed upon said motion of said armature toward said second coil, and which is characterized by the permeability of the magnetic path formed by said second coil, said plunger, and said armature may be changed by the motion of said armature and said plunger with respect to said second coil and that fluid is pumped by the reciprocating motion of said plunger.

2. The electromagnetic pump of claim 1 wherein the plunger is formed with screw-type grooves on its outer surface.

3. The electromagnetic pump of claim 1 provided with a fluid cleaning chamber disposed concentrically about the lower end of said tube, a film filter disposed concentrically about said cleaning chamber, and a strainer chamber disposed concentrically about said film filter, whereby fluid contained within said strainer chamber is forced to pass radially inwardly through said film filter and downwardly axially through said cleaning chamber, upon pumping motion of said plunger.

4. An electromagnetic pump comprising: a non-magnetic tube; a first electromagnetic coil disposed concentrically about said tube; a second electromagnetic coil disposed concentrically about said tube and spaced a fixed distance upwardly from said first coil; a magnetic plunger slidably received within said tube for reciprocating motion with respect to said coils; spring means adapted to normally bias said plunger upwardly toward said second coil; a spring plate member having a movable central portion disposed concentrically about said tube, a stationary outer portion spaced a fixed distance above said second coil, and flexible portions adapted to movably connect said central portion with said stationary portion; an annularly shaped armature disposed concentrically of said tube and supported by said central portion of said spring plate for reciprocating motion with respect to said second coil; means for energizing said first coil including a plurality of stationary electrical contacts and a plurality of movable electrical contacts, said movable contacts being carriedby said central portion of said spring plate, whereby said contacts are normally biased to an open position by said flexible portions of said spring plate and are closed upon said motion of said armature toward said second coil; a suction valve disposed in the lower end of said tube; a delivery valve connected for universal motion with respect to the lower end of said plunger, said delivery valve having a downwardly extending enlarged valve head portion; a valve chamber slidably received within the bottom end of said tube above said suction valve and adapted to enclose said valve head portion; a fluid exhaust port disposed in the side wall of said tube above said chamber; a valve seat disposed in the upper portion of said chamber; a valve opening formed by said valve seat and said valve head portion; and an orifice provided in the lower pontion of said chamber, whereby downward motion of said plunger acts to force said chamber downwardly Within said tube and upward motion of said plunger acts to close said valve opening, subsequently drawing said chamber upwardly within said tube to force fluid through said port, and which is characterized by the permeability of the magnetic path formed by said second coil, said plunger, and said armature may be changed by the motion of said armature and said plunger with respect to said second coil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,834,461 Lea Dec. 1, 1931 1,908,092 Whitted May 9, 1933 2,368,201 Clare Jan. 30, 1945 2,505,395 G'ratzmuller Apr. 25, 1950 2,691,739 McHenry et a1 Oct. 12, 1954 2,749,454 Little et al June 5, 1956 2,832,291 Gorsko Apr. 29, 1958 

1. AN ELECTROMAGNETIC PUMP COMPRISING: A NON-MAGNETIC TUBE; A FIRST ELECTROMAGNETIC COIL DISPOSED CONCENTRICALLY ABOUT SAID TUBE; A SECOND ELECTROMAGNETIC COIL DISPOSED CONCENTRICALLY ABOUT SAID TUBE AND SPACED A FIXED DISTANCE UPWARDLY FROM SAID FIRST COIL; A MAGNETIC PLUNGER SLIDABLY RECEIVED WITHIN SAID TUBE FOR RECIPROCATING MOTION WITH RESPECT TO SAID COILS; SPRING MEANS ADAPTED TO NORMALLY BIAS SAID PLUNGER UPWARDLY TOWARD SAID SECOND COIL; A SPRING PLATE MEMBER HAVING A MOVABLE CENTRAL PORTION DISPOSED CONCENTRICALLY ABOUT SAID TUBE, A STATIONARY OUTER PORTION SPACED A FIXED DISTANCE ABOVE SAID SECOND COIL, AND FLEXIBLE PORTIONS ADAPTED TO MOVABLY CONNECT SAID CENTRAL PORTION WITH SAID STATIONARY PORTION; AN ANNULARLY SHAPED ARMATURE DISPOSED CONCENTRICALLY OF SAID TUBE AND SUPPORTED BY SAID CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID SPRING PLATE FOR RECIPROCATING MOTION WITH RESPECT TO SAID SECOND COIL; MEANS FORMING A PUMPING CHAMBER BELOW SAID PLUNGER; AND MEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID FIRST COIL INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF STATIONARY ELECTRICAL CONTACTS AND A PLURALITY OF MOVABLE ELECTRICAL CONTACTS, SAID MOVABLE CONTACTS BEING CARRIED BY SAID CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID SPRING PLATE, WHEREBY SAID CONTACTS ARE NORMALLY BIASED TO AN OPEN POSITION BY SAID FLEXIBLE PORTION OF SAID SPRING PLATE AND ARE CLOSED UPON SAID MOTION OF SAID ARMATURE TOWARD SAID SECOND COIL, AND WHICH IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE PERMEABILITY OF THE MAGNETIC PATH FORMED BY SAID SECOND COIL, SAID PLUNGER, AND SAID ARMATURE MAY BE CHANGED BY THE MOTION OF SAID ARMATURE AND SAID PLUNGER WITH RESPECT TO SAID SECOND COIL AND THAT FLUID IS PUMPED BY THE RECIPROCATING MOTION OF SAID PLUNGER. 